Phantom Dancers
by AlwaysBetOnVoid
Summary: Former Alpha Squadron wraith ace Tom "Iceman" Kazansky has been reduced to Dead Man's Port after a falling out with the Dominion. With a chance to escape with his wraith when Raynor comes looking for Col. Orlon, he's offered an unexpected deal by Raynor himself. Iceman will finally have someone to call "Commanda" and what's worse is that he's got a banshee and a spectre on his six!
1. Dead Man's Wriath

**This is a starcraft II fanfiction that follows Wings of Liberty's Campaign, some stuff is OC so if you've never seen something before, please look it up for asking me if he/she/ or it is canonical, it saves us all time. Be aware the campaign in this story will be juggled around a bit. Chapters will be longer as the story lengthens don't worry about that. Imagine you did all the Mercenary contracts first in the campaign. PLEASE LOOK UP CHARACTERS ON STARCRAFTPEDIA BEFORE YOU HATE ME**

* * *

**Dead Man's Port (The Second Great War, Around 2504)**

**High Noon**

**_Saltwater Sally _****Saloon**

"What'll it be today Tom?" asked the bartender

"The usual." replied the former Terran Dominion Alpha Squadron Wraith Colonel.

"The usual is gonna come back to bite you in the kidneys some day." said the bartender as he looked into the defeated eyes of Tom Kazansky. Kazansky sat at the bar with his head in his hands, "Bite me." he replied.

The bartender shrugged as he readied a white russian for the man. He wondered everyday how a man with such potential and prestige within the Dominion had ended up here. The Wraith pilot continued to wallow in his misery.

He had just lost his personel Wraith, _Kelly _(Named after his mother), to a good poker player by the name of Switchback-a member of Colonel Orlon's mercenaries that were stationed here. He had bet his Wraith, as opposed to Switchback's bet on laser cannons upgraded with Protoss technology.

It had been a stupid descision, combined with the fact that he was drunk during the game as well.

"Here ya go Tom." said the bartender, sliding the drink down the table. Tom grabbed it and swashed it around for a couple seconds before downing it. "Thanks." replied Tom as he looked at the empty shot glass.

What a ride.

Tom Kazansky, regarded as one of the best Wraith starfighter pilots in the entire Koprulu Sector had ended up in Dead Man's Port after years of serving with Alpha Squadron under General Duke and then under Arcturus Mengsk with the Dominion.

The punch line had hit when Kazansky along with the science vessel commander Magellan had disobeyed Emperor Mengsk's direct orders to rescue Protoss held captive my the malicious mercenary group Schezar's Scavengers, led by none other than Alan Schezar.

The mercenary group had attacked Aiur during the Zerg Invasion and captured many Protoss and used their tortured them into using their psionic abilities on a zerg cerebrate-which they eventually brought to a previously undiscovered volcanic planet.

Alpha squadron's mission had been to kill the cerebrate, but one of the captured protoss had contacted Kazansky's commander via a telepathic link and convinced him to free the Protoss instead-much to the anger of Emperor Mengsk.

The renegade Alpha Squadron/Protoss Alliance were then able to defeat the Scavengers/Zerg alliance even with the latter's aid of the powerful Torrasque, an Ultralisk that could reincarnate after it died. Althought the Scavenger threat of a human controlled cerebrate was crushed, it all came at a cost to Kazansky.

Emperor Mengsk had declared them outlaws and traitors, and from that day forward, everyone in Alpha Squadron was branded for death. Luckily for them, Emperor Mengsk had seriously underestimated their versatility, and Alpha Squadron escaped to the far corners of the sector with the blessings of the Protoss they had rescued.

How he ended up here, instead of just joining up with some mercenary group, he'd never know. Most mercenary groups except Orlon's knew his name because he hunted scum like them, and now he'd almost never find employment.

"Its a cold day in hell." he muttered.

He knew going back to Switchback's place to work anything was suicide with the men that backed him up compared to Kazansky, who was by himself. Then the idea came to him-he would wait until Switchback had installed the upgraded cannons on the Wraith, and then hope to steal it back.

No that would never work, it would be too heavily guarded.

Suddenly, he heard the front door of the bar slide open.

"Well, well, well if it isn't Mr. Iceman himself, how is losing your momma's Wraith feel?"

Speaking of the devil...

The man that went by the name of Switchback was a well muscled man, built for only one purpose-crime, rape, and money. His double finger stache streched below his chin and was definitely the most notable thing about him. His pointed black hair pointed upward, further amplifying his narcissism.

Switchback slapped Kazansky on the back, "Well?"

"Fuck off."

"Oh come now I won fair and square! Can't be too upset about that could you?" laughed the mercenary.

"You had guys surrounding us with gauss rifles."

"Well's thats for the both of us. Ya see, whether ya know it or not, everyone out here is out for personal gain, its just joining together might help us achieve our goals faster and more efficiently." Switchback responded.

"Efficiently? Big word for such a small brain." said Kazansky as he stared at the beer wall.

Switchback chuckled and tightened his grip on Kazansky's shoulder, "Oh that hurts Iceman, lets not get too vengeful now would we? Have fun in the shithole you call home." snarled the man as he let go and left the bar.

Kazansky chuckled, Switchback was an intimidating figure even for Kazansky's flight build. There would be another time to win back _Kelly, _one way or the other. Saying goodbye to the bartender, he got off his ass and left.

The place he called home was actually a half-built shack near the saloon, hastily built by Kazansky when he had first arrived at Dead Man's Port. The only thing missing was his Wraith that was usually parked right next to it.

Sighing, he entered his "house" and lay down on the dirty matress, shooing away mice that were fighting over a scarp of cheese. Realizing that he was nothing without that Wraith, he slipped into sleep while he contemplated on how to get it back.

* * *

The next day, Tom Kazansky woke with the smell of smoke in his nostrils. Wait, smoke? The jolted the pilot awake as he thought that Switchback might be trying to play a dirty game, but realized that his shack was untouched by the source of the smoke.

He looked around and saw it seeping in through holes in the ceiling and window. Getting up, he rushed over to the window and looked out. It was then that he heard a low rumble in the distance and a streaking sound passed over the shack. Kazansky would have recognized the sound anyway.

A Crucio siege tank round.

But who in the hell had siege tanks here? Certainly not Orlon, not even he had access to weapons as devastating as tanks. When he realized who else might have them, his heart sank.

The Dominion.

This could either be extraordinary luck or certain death for Kazansky. If the Dominion really was here, then they most certainly would go after Orlon, and not be looking for a former Alpha squadron pilot.

And that meant, his Wraith might just be ripe for the taking. He gathered what belongings he could take with him in a duffel bag and slipped into his flight suit, one of the few clothing items he actually had left.

Creeping out of his shack, he looked around to see men running around frantically in the streets, some carrying gauss rifles and others carrying nearly obsolete chain guns. He decided to cut across the dump to the saloon, where he hoped the bartender might answer some of his questions.

When he got there, he saw it was completely empty and entered. He immeditely saw the bartender duck beneath the bar table, as if he were trying to avoid someone. "Don't worry Mac its me Tom." said Kazansky.

Mac slowly emerged from behind the table and looked around, frightened. "Wha-wh-what are you doing here Tom? You should run!" stumbled Mac. Kazansky shook his head, "I ain't leavin until I know who has Siege tanks out there." he said, pointing to the source of the rumbling in the distance.

The frightened man nodded, "I-I heard it was them Raynor's Raiders!" he said.

Kazansky raised an eyebrow, Raynor's Raiders? What could they possibly be doing here? "Do you know where they landed?" he asked. But the bartender shook his head and ducked slightly as a round whistled over their head and exploded a hundred yards away.

"They're probably after Orlon. I don't know, I have no idea why anyone with tanks would come here!" said the man.

He had to admit, Kazansky didn't know either but he would bet anything he had left to believe they were after Orlon for some reason only God knows, and if they were going after Orlon, then that meant they would be after Switchback and his cronies.

"Perfect." said Kazansky as he smiled and turned to walk out.

"Hey-Hey where are going?" asked Mac.

Kazansky turned around and flipped Mac a credit coin and smiled, "I'm getting Kelly back, or bust." he said as he ran out. The streets were still filled with smoke and the foul stench of Dead Man's Port made it all the more filthy, not like it was clean to begin with.

The pilot figured the Switchback had already taken his Wraith to a hangar near Orlon's base, now all he had to do was find out where Raynor's Raiders were and figure out there plan of attack.

He cut across a couple of streets and suddenly, a rumbling threw him to his feet, he quickly dived behind a couple of crates to avoid being seen. When he stole a peek at the source of the rumbling, he saw a couple or Orlon's men in power armor and goliath walkers proceeding down the street. Kazansky could tell it was them by their distinctive orange paint job and insigna.

"The Raiders have been spotted near the supply depots! Kill em' all!" said one of the men in armor.

So it was Raynor's Raiders. Kazansky had been taught that they were all bloodthirsty terrorists and traitors by the Dominion's media. However, they made it so blatant and obvious that they were lying that Kazansky could only laugh.

He waited until the patrol had passed and then began to silently follow them, they would lead him to Orlon's base. Only about five minutes into their patrol however, the captain held up a hand and the patrol stopped.

"Fire!" he yelled, pointing in front of him to an invisible enemy. The men fired their gauss rifles and the goliath's unleashed their gattling guns into the smoke. But in return, explosions rocked the goliaths, blowing them apart into big pieces of their former selves.

"Fall back! They've got-" The captain never finished his sentence as he and the rest of his men were blown to smithereens by passing siege tanks with a noticeable blue and gray paint job. They two were accompanied by marines, medics, marauders, and even vulture bikes to Kazansky's amusement.

"Raynor's Raiders...what are you after?" he thought as he watched the Raiders pass by into the thick of the fog.


	2. Author's Update

Dear Readers,

If you are a follower of Phantom Dancers, I want to extend my deepest apologies for not updating this story since...March? Or whenever the hell I first posted it. To be honest, I don't think I should have published it until I was done with my two primary Warhammer 40k stories.

I just want to let you know that there isn't a day that goes by where I don't think about the story and its plot. That being said, rest assured that I will one day return to Phantom Dancers, though I'm sorry to say it won't be anytime soon as far as I'm concerned. Although, there may be a day where I simply say, "Fuck it" and bang out a chapter or two. Its been known to happen with me.

I intend for Phantom Dancers to be less than fifteen chapters, and not nearly as long as my Warhammer 40k stories. I just want to let you know that it is July 16th, 2013, and I am telling you, my readers, that I have not abandoned this story. I can understand if you wish to take it off your favorites or followers list but again I assure you I will never give up on another story. I've already done that too many times in the past. I appreciate and thank you if you decide to stick with me.

Chapter 2 for Phantom Dancers will most likely appear sometime in the fall or winter of 2013, and will replace this chapter. So when that time comes around, I encourage you to check your mailboxes and this story as well.

Questions? Thoughts? Rages?

PM me.

Sincerely,

AlwaysBetOnVoid


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